6,000 Steps A Day Keeps Knee Pain At Bay

How many daily steps does it take to reduce knee osteoarthritis pain? Probably less than you think.

Walking 6,000 or more steps per day (about 3 miles) is associated with a reduced risk of functional limitation in adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA), reports a new study published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research. Researchers used pedometers to track the daily steps of 1,788 participants aged 50 to 79 for seven days. Two years later, researchers evaluated participants’ functional ability by testing their walking speed, as well as collecting self-reported data on participants’ ability to perform everyday tasks like climbing stairs, getting out of a chair, and performing household activities. Those who walked 6,000 steps or more per day experienced fewer functional limitations compared to those who walked less. And for each 1,000 daily steps participants walked, their limitations dropped by 18%.

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In the past, experts recommended that people with knee OA take it easy to avoid putting further stress on their already achy joints. But now they say that movement is the best medicine. “When you stop moving, weakness sets in and you start to lose your range of motion. Walking increases strength and decreases pain,” says study co-author Daniel White, PT, ScD, from Sargent College at Boston University in Massachusetts.

Best of all, you don’t need to jump straight from 0 to 6,000 steps to reap walking’s benefits: The researchers recommend that people with mild to moderate knee OA start with just 3,000 steps per day (try it on days when you have little or no pain) and working up from there. “You might have pain afterward at first. But if you keep up [the walking], that will help your pain overall,” White says.